The Best we can hope for
by AmikaUchiha
Summary: Naruto one shot. My little protest of the way the manga is turning.


She found herself waking up lying on the ground. The first thing she saw was Kakashi, he looked sad, must be because Sasuke had killed her. Her fingers twitched and she jolted upright, realizing she wasn't dead... Genjutsu? She jumped up, eyes scanning everywhere around her. Kakashi merely looked up at her, then hung his head after a solitary glance to his right. Where the hell was that bastard Sasuke and where was Naruto... Kakashi spoke,"valley of the end," and promptly poofed. She sighed, hating that in her disorientation, she hadn't realized she was looking at a clone.  
>Sakura ran towards the valley without a backwards glance. She had to do something as she was tired of feeling useless.<br>No telling how long she'd been unconscious, the battle was likely long over but she had to try, if for no other reason than to see the outcome. Naruto's words that they would both die in battle rang in her ears and she found herself racing faster than she ever had before, her heart in her throat.  
>She saw the smoke and devastation and heard the sounds of yelling and battle before she got there, experiencing a sense of relief and dread all at the same time. She had no idea what she could do, likely would only distract Naruto but she had to try, and couldn't bear doing nothing.<br>Her heart had finally chosen and though it sickened her to think of Sasuke dead, she knew that she'd wasted years on him when she should've been worried about Naruto, and Sasuke had been dead inside for years. If she and Naruto lived through this, she swore she would make it up to him, support him and be by his side as a best friend and comrade should, dance at his and Hinata's wedding, and happily love his children as her nieces and nephews. For once her inner was no longer talking. She spotted them and raced forward. They both looked horrible, Sasuke was dragging his left leg behind him and Naruto was on the ground trying to push himself up. Sasuke's chidori was unsteady in its intensity as if he was unable to maintain it anymore at a steady level due to poor physical condition or chakra depletion, getting stronger momentarily then seeming to almost disappear from existence yet somehow persisting. Sakura was actually glad of that, as even at his slowed pace she was unsure of her ability to get there in time from her too great distance and perhaps if he managed to get to Naruto and use it, it would be at a moment of depletion. She pushed her feet harder and prayed silently. Tears streamed down her face as she realized she wasn't going to make it in time.

Naruto pushed up again, the birds chirping behind him getting louder, yet their sound was off, almost as if Sasuke couldn't make up his mind on whether or not he was going to use his chidori. Naruto didn't know what the hold up was, he cursed and pushed harder, managing to get on his knees, though they wobbled and threatened to land him on his stomach again. A trickle of sweat ran down his face. 'Get a grip and hurry up or you will die, dumbass,' he thought, cringing as he crashed back to the ground just as Sasuke pushed his chidori into the vacant space his back had just occupied. This sent Sasuke even farther off balance as he was already unsteady of gait due to his impaired appendage and he started to fall forward. Naruto screamed as he felt the chidori hit his back with the force of Sasuke's weight behind it, however the chidori itself was short lived on impact since the fall surprised Sasuke enough to lose concentration on maintaining it and it faded almost as soon as it had impacted. The pain would last longer. Naruto was in agony, not really having the mental capacity to wonder why he was still alive because of the searing pain. He didn't wonder why the chidori /was gone when it disappeared, only about what had hit him hard enough seconds later to roll him over onto his extremely sore back. He didn't realize that he wasn't the intended target.

Sakura hadn't thought, just reacted, her foot impacting Sasuke's side and sending him flying off of Naruto and quite roughly into a tree a few feet away, accidentally knocking Naruto over in the process. She felt no remorse for whatever pain befell Sasuke, bending over Naruto instead and almost shouting for joy upon seeing he was still alive. She immediately rolled him back over, healing what she could of his back with her still-depleted chakra. Naruto looked over his shoulder as soon as the pain began to ebb to a bearable level and panicked when he saw his pink haired teammate, not knowing whether or not Sasuke was still a threat. She helped him up onto his knees, letting him lean on her for support before he noticed she was crying. She hugged him and he winced in pain as his back wasn't fully healed and was still tender.  
>"Oi Sakura-Chan not so rough." He looked around,"Where's Sasuke?"<br>Sakura nodded behind them, "last I saw he hit a tree back there when I kicked him off of you."  
>She helped Naruto to stand and they walked in that direction to search, finding Sasuke unconscious but breathing underneath a now split tree. It had broken forward and would've crushed him except for the fact that part of the front stayed on top of the trunk so that it made a perfect tent shape so that it didn't fall on him.<p>

Something to their right caught her eye and she saw that Kakashi had finally decided to show up. She was pissed at him so she didn't bother to greet him or even rib him about his lateness in the usual way. She looked at him icily and then back at Sasuke as masked ANBU secured him and disappeared. More ANBU came and took Naruto and herself and headed back in the direction of the Leaf Village.

3 Days Later

She knew the trial was happening right now and a part of her was dying to go, but the now wiser part of her won out and she stayed away. She arrainged the flowers on the bedside table as the blonde slept on. She looked at him and smiled, glad that the number 1 knucklehead ninja had survived. She turned and looked at the door when she heard a soft knock and then smiled when Hinata peeked inside. She hugged the girl and walked out of the room so that she could stay with him and Sakura could go and get some rest. She passed the Hokage tower and didn't spare it a single glance. Whatever Sasuke's fate would be had nothing to do with her. A part of her hoped they'd put him to death. If he survived, he would only plot revenge on her for his incarceration or whatever punishment they gave him. Same shit different day. Some newly decided changes were good and worth celebrating. The Leaf Village was going to ask Naruto to be Hokage once he'd recovered. She was on her way to help plan a party at Naruto's favorite place, Ichiraku's ramen. The elders that had been in place when the Uchiha massacre was decided on had all voluntarily left their post and votes were being taken for the new elders. Uchiha Itachi was officially a hero having his name cleared completely, even if he wasn't alive to enjoy it. Peace between the villages was now even more assured and the Village though still repairing, was honestly thriving and feeling more secure in their fate than ever, a fact that matched many other villages.

He'd been allowed to live but chakra banded for life and given an in-village prison sentence (which basically consisted of mostly house arrest with ANBU watching him 24/7) and to do countless hours of community service. She saw him periodically but never acknowledged his existence. She got so good at this that she rarely actually noticed him, or she actually just didn't see him for long periods of time. She didn't keep track. Naruto had become Hokage and was much celebrated. Sasuke's lenient sentence was likely only given out of anticipation of their new Hokage's wishes on the matter. She didn't give in to much thought about it as she was too busy with her duties with her squad as well as now helping to plan a wedding for their new Hokage, though on that one they did have plenty of time. She wasn't sure how the Hyuuga Clan would like the wedding entrees being ramen though.

3 years Later

Hinata threw the bouquet into the crowd, all of the single ladies fought bravely for it but in the end, it went a bit too high and was caught instead by one now red-faced Naru Shikamaru. Sakura burst out laughing at his comical chagrined expression. Temari winked at him and he blushed harder. She turned and watched Naruto pick up his bride and take off at top speed toward their new home with a just married sign on his back and cans tied to his rear end while the party laughed and threw rice. She grinned and shook her head, turning to go down the sidewalk toward her modest apartment. It looked like her promise to Naruto was going to come true. She sincerely hoped he intended to hurry along plans for those nieces and nephews. She already had oodles of ideas for annoying noise making gifts for the children. She grinned evilly and continued on, nearly skipping.  
>She was getting ready for a mission two days later, when a knock on her door surprised her. She answered and stepped back allowing the man to step inside and almost fell over when he produced a bouquet of daisies. She blushed, excusing herself to get something to put them in. 'Holy crap unexpected...' She honestly didn't want to panic but she really wasn't ready for male attention since she'd never once in the last three years even given a single thought to any form of love life for herself, in spite of the Pig calling her boring. She liked her life, even though that damnedable Ino-pig liked to constantly call her a spinster and get on her nerves about it (nevermind that Ino was also rocking the single status, if not the celebate one). Her eyes narrowed subconsciously on the thought that perhaps that troublemaking blonde was behind this one. She schooled her features before returning to her living room.<br>"Thank you, Gaara."

"SHUT UP! The Kazekage asked you out Forehead!"  
>"Shhh! Hells bells, Pig, I don't want it announced to the entire world! Besides, I only said I would think about it, I didn't say yes..."<br>Ino took a bite of her ramen, ignoring table manners utterly and completely by continuing to talk with her mouth full. "Seriously Forehead, if you don't say yes, you're a complete moron and I may have to rethink our friendship, just sayin. Plus since you're best friend and sort of adopted sister, this would ensure the continued peace between our two villages."  
>Sakura rolled her eyes. "Saw dollar signs didn't ya, Miss Piggy."<br>Ino choked on her food and Sakura did her best attempt at an innocent grin.  
>Once Ino was through choking, she glared at her best friend before her face lit up like the fourth of July as apparently a thought had occurred to her. Sakura braced herself for something stupid, perverted, or both. "Well, Forehead, if you don't want him, send him my way," Ino purred with a wink.<br>Apparently both. Sakura didn't think Ino's idea warranted the over-dramatic light bulb going on look, but said nothing about it as she continued to eat her ramen and mentally shake her head. She swallowed before replying,"what you're referring to with the peace offering of a bride normally involves daughters, Pig. Plus the Sand Village is already our closest ally and what happens to that peace in the instance of a break-up? And no Pig, no, I'm not RISKING the peace by sending him to you." Sakura laughed after saying this.  
>Ino sulked for days after this conversation concluded. She also didn't keep it quiet either, it took Sakura months to put the rumors to rest and by the time it was finished, Gaara wasn't interested anymore as a result.<p>

Sakura kept good to her promise, being a good shinobi, a good friend/family member to Naruto and his family. In the end, there was no moment of enlightenment, no earth shattering revelations, and some things just never change, but others do. After that three year mark, Haruno Sakura never thought of Uchiha Sasuke again until his obituary came out in the paper nearly forty years later. He'd finished his sentence, became a productive member of society as much as he could in that he didn't kill people and eventually stopped intimidating them and worked the rest of his days in a fish market and lived alone his entire life. Haruno Sakura never married, never had a boyfriend and while most would call her life boring, she would've begged to differ. She died a ripe old age surrounded by loved ones and mourned after she was gone, as did Uzumaki Naruto only months later. In the beginning of it all it was Uchiha Sasuke that was beloved while Naruto was ignored and hated and Sakura was viewed as not good enough, weak, and annoying. Both who started their lives so shaky, finished them happy, fulfilled, strong, loved, and then mourned, while Sasuke died alone and missed by no one.


End file.
